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CAN A CHRISTIAN BE CURSED BY A WITCH?
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, October 4, 2025 – God’s people are frequent targets of witches. Being such a target could be cause for concern, but frankly I don’t think about it much. There’s no point. Because if, as part his justice, God permits a witch’s curse to come at me as a test or a reward, come at me it will. I can’t wave a magic wand and stop God’s justice from playing out. All I can do is face whatever comes at me and follow God’s guidance to get through it. Still, no curse can come at me at all if God doesn’t permit it to come. It can’t just be a witch’s vanity project: The curse needs to be spiritually earned.
When God allowed Satan to curse Job, God already knew the good that would come to Job in the end, knowing that Job would successfully endure the test. The same with Jesus and his tests. The same with all of us who have God’s Holy Spirit in us and love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Every demon in hell can be sent to rage against us, but those demons can only affect us to the exact measure that accords with God’s justice.
As for people who are not born-again but identify as Christian – they can be severely harmed by witches’ curses. Not having God’s Holy Spirit in them, unregenerate Christians are vulnerable, as demons well know which souls are protected by God’s Spirit and which souls are not. But again, as with people who are born-again, unregenerate Christians can’t be subjected to a witch’s curse willy-nilly: The curse must be warranted under God’s justice, which means it must have been earned, either as a test or a reward.
It’s worth noting that having someone pray over you will not ward off a witch’s curse. Prayer is powerful, but it can’t override a targeted individual’s free will and it can’t override the delivery of a God-sanctioned test or reward under God’s justice. Prayer might make the targeted person more mindful of God, which is a good defense going into the testing period, but it won’t stop the test from happening and it won’t stop a reward from being delivered. You can’t avoid a curse just because you don’t want one. If you have it coming, it will come. See Deuteronomy 28.
If I were an unregenerate Christian and didn’t want to suffer a witch’s curse, I would watch every word that came out of my mouth, I would banish every ungodly thought that came into my mind, I would pray night and day for God’s guidance in everything I did—everything, not just “God things”—and I would surround myself with people who likewise did the same. This is how born-again believers strive to live, and so this is how all Christians should strive to live. This is how you protect yourself from curses and successfully endure tests when they come at you, because come at you they will, if God permits them to come. No Christians, whether born-again or not, are exempt from God’s justice, and witches’ curses constitute one form of its delivery.
I won’t here go into what are essentially demonic protections against other demons, or what are popularly known as counter-spells. These remedies are not the domain of Christians. The Bible tells us not to be curious about any aspect of demonology or witchcraft, and that includes counter-spells and other demonically inspired protections. The only thing I’ll say in this regard is that you can’t outrun God’s justice. You might be able temporarily to side-step what’s coming to you, but you can’t side-step it forever. As Jesus said: “The measure you mete is the measure you get in return.” That truth doesn’t ‘magically’ disappear under the force of counter-spells and other demonic protections. It only delays the delivery of God’s justice; it doesn’t override it.
As Christians, our protector is God. Whether in seeking a haven from demonically inspired individuals who are trying to curse us or in any other circumstance of potential danger, we turn only to God for protection and guidance. We don’t pray to angels and we don’t pray to people, even if those people are considered saints. We pray only to God in Jesus’ name, as Jesus taught us to do. God is our sole source of protection and the only one we need as followers of Jesus.
So yes, while Satan and his demons can inspire witches to initiate curses against Christians, the impact of those spells depends on the targeted individual. Born-again believers are protected right out of the gate by the presence of God’s Holy Spirit in them, but they can still be tested and rewarded, if a test or reward is warranted. Christians who are not born-again are more spiritually vulnerable and therefore greater targets (especially if they’re high-profile Christians). These people can be severely harmed by witches’ curses, but only to the extent that they’ve brought the harm onto themselves. God’s justice isn’t overridden by a witch’s curse; there’s no such thing as a powerful or weak spell: There are only spells that better or worse fit the delivery of God’s justice. If you’ve earned a test, you’ll get it to the exact degree that it’s been earned, just as you’ll get a reward—good or bad—to the exact degree that it’s been earned.
When all is said and done, the best defence against witches’ curses is not counter-spells but to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to do his will. God and God alone is your protector. Pray always and only to him, in Jesus’ name.
GOD’S VENGEANCE FOR HIS CHILDREN
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, September 18, 2025 – God has so many wonderful characteristics and descriptors, it’s hard to choose just one as a favorite. In fact, I can’t and I wouldn’t. But high up on my list of favorites is God’s promise to deal with those who hurt his children. When I say “deal with”, I mean God handles the situation to utter perfection, as he does everything. Our vengeance, should we choose to exact it, would be hasty and emotion-driven and all out of proportion to the crime (causing more harm to ourselves), whereas God’s vengeance is precise, perfectly timed, and guaranteed to deliver the promised rewards. Having been both on the receiving end of God’s vengeance (as an atheist) and a witness to God’s vengeance (as a born-again believer), I am in awe at how perfectly God tailors the punishment to fit the crime.
Most criminals don’t believe they’ll be caught. And if they are caught, most will insist on their innocence even when presented with damning evidence. And if despite their pleas of innocence they’re tried in a court of law, most will refer to extenuating circumstances to deflect the blame from themselves. Judicial systems take these circumstances into consideration when rendering a verdict, and so the outcome is far less than perfect and typically far too soft on criminals, leaving the guilty unrepentant and the observers disillusioned by the whole process.
But that’s in a worldly court of law, which is rarely premised on God’s justice. The only time an outcome is perfect in a worldly court of law is when God gets directly involved; and the only time God gets directly involved is when one of his children has been falsely accused. Having witnessed a series of miracles in a courtroom where I was on trial, I know firsthand what I’m talking about. How swiftly and decidedly God acted to protect me was breathtaking. All who were involved in the case exited the courtroom in various degrees of shock. I walked free.
You can’t harm God’s children and not expect to be punished. I guarantee that if you harm God’s children, you’ll be punished, and likely not in the way you expect. This is the beauty of God’s perfect vengeance. If you, for instance, trash-talk and spread lies about a child of God, your reward probably won’t involve being trash-talked and lied about in return, since these harms likely won’t affect you. Your reward will instead be targeted toward something that will affect you—meaning, something that you value—like your finances or your career or your most intimate personal relationships. Whatever God chooses to target will suffer a swift and noticeable decline to the precise measure that God deems appropriate to the crime. You cannot avoid God’s vengeance, whether you believe in it or not. That is 100% guaranteed.
But what about the harm suffered by God’s children prior to God’s vengeance being enacted? How is that compensated? Well, let’s see. After outing himself as the Messiah and being run out of town, Jesus lost Nazareth but gained a whole nation and then a whole world of believers, along with a permanent seat at the right hand of God. Paul lost his head but gained the reward of a prophet, as do all God’s children who are killed for their faith. Although not yet having “resisted unto blood”, I’ve been maligned, trash-talked, lied about, and cheated, had (failed) spells cast on me, and have been shut out of competitions and banned for my words. Yet in every instance, God has compensated me with better options and boosted faith. I have learned not to take matters into my own hands but instead to pray for my persecutors (if God gives me guidance to pray for them) and to let God deal with them in his way and his time, knowing that in the meantime I’ll be comforted and compensated by God himself. Where my persecutors intended harm, they inflicted instead joy, while the suffering they meant for me was returned—with interest—on them.
It’s a beautiful thing to submit to letting God be God. His vengeance is perfect. His rewards are perfect. Everything he does is perfect. You cannot avoid God’s vengeance either when you harm his children or when you commit any other trespass or crime. I say this not as a threat and not even as a warning but as a promise that comes straight from the mouth of God. Oh, what a beautiful thing it is to stand down and let God be God!
VENGEANCE IS MINE, SAITH THE LORD; I WILL REPAY.
JESUS AND THE PROSTITUTES
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, September 18, 2025 – There’s a video clip making the rounds lately featuring a prominent conservative influencer interacting with a group of prostitutes. The influencer doesn’t denounce the prostitutes for their career choice or immorality; instead, he steers the conversation towards career alternatives and discusses the impact that prostitution could have on the women’s current and future relationships. The comments under the video clip unanimously praise the influencer for not “judging” the women and for being “respectful” of them. Some comments even mention how the prostitutes seem to appreciate not being judged.
You know who else would appear non-judgmental and respectful of prostitutes while they unrepentantly brag about plying their trade?
Satan.
Satan would very much let the women wax eloquent over their ungodly behavior (the more ungodly, the better). Satan would also politely listen while the women spiritually hung themselves with their own words. Satan’s specialty is standing by and letting sin run its course, somewhat like what was happening in the video with the prominent conservative influencer.
Jesus, on the other hand, wouldn’t have had such a discussion with “working girls”, mainly because they would have avoided him like the plague. The full measure of God’s Spirit in Jesus would have been way too powerful for the demons in the women to be anywhere near him. As scripture shows, the only prostitutes who approached Jesus were repentant ones, and then only on their knees and in tears (their choice, to be on their knees and in tears). This is the effect that the Holy Spirit has on the repentant.
Jesus didn’t prevent prostitutes from being around him; they just didn’t want to be around him.
We don’t do sinners a favor by being non-judgmental and respectful of their state of sin. We don’t do them a favor by giving them a platform to brag publicly about their ungodly behavior and dig deeper holes for themselves spiritually. What we do when we choose to be “non-judgmental” and “respectful” of sinners bragging about their sin is set them up for ridicule and shaming, while at the same time promoting the viability of their sinful ways to other sinners. We also don’t do ourselves a favor when sin is shoved in our face and we choose to look the other way, not wanting to appear judgmental or disrespectful. It’s not our job, as born-again believers, to look the other way. We’ll be held responsible for looking the other way.
God judges. Judging is the essence of who he is. Likewise, God’s Spirit, when present in believers, judges without saying a word. That’s why prostitutes didn’t want to be around Jesus and why the unrepentant don’t want to be around us: They feel judged even without our having to say a word. In feeling judged, they get defensive and then hostile. I’ve seen it over and over again in my interactions with unbelievers. Jesus says we’ll be hated without cause, and so we are. Simply being silent witnesses to God’s Word is enough to make people hate us.
I’m OK with being hated. I’d rather be hated by those who hate Truth than be appreciated by them for being “non-judgmental” and “respectful”. You don’t open a dialogue with sin; you roundly condemn sin and give it no voice. At the same time, however, you can talk about the weather with the unrepentant. If you own a corner store, you can sell them milk and bread and ice-cream. You can be kind to the unrepentant and dialogue with them, just not with their sin. But, as I mentioned, most sinners won’t want to be around you, anyway, not if you have God’s Spirit in you.
The conservative influencer was doing no-one a favor (least of all himself) by corralling prostitutes into making a public spectacle of themselves. God doesn’t call us to dialogue with sin or to give sin a platform under the guise of being “non-judgmental” and “respectful”. Jesus never did. What God does call us to do is stand in his Truth while being kind to the unrepentant. And if they feel judged by our words or merely by our presence, that’s not a bad thing. Let them feel judged. A pricked conscience is how repentance begins.
When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
(Ezekiel 3:18-19)
SACRIFICE
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, September 11, 2025 – Hidden away in the fine print of the contract that we didn’t sign is a clause about sudden death due to sacrifice. It’s not phrased that way, but the intent is the same. Before they sign on the dotted line, the initiates must agree to be terminated at anytime, with or without notice, with or without cause, in a manner that is deemed expedient to the Plan. Most who sign don’t read this clause, or if they do, don’t believe it will ever apply to them, much like people who get struck by lightning previously believed they’d never get struck by lightning. The sacrifice, when it happens, likewise comes out of the blue and nearly always without warning. Unexpectedness is crucial for enhancing the authenticity of the response to the ritual.
And a ritual it is. These events are timed according to specific dates with specific meaning, counted by days or years and connected by celestial arrangements to other specific dates with other specific meanings. The only variable in the ritual is who will be tapped for the sacrifice.
It’s not for nothing that they’re all married, the contract signees. Many of the marriages are adulterous or simply void in God’s eyes, but the contracts are still valid to the devil. In fact, one of the main reasons for legally expanding the definition of marriage to include unions that are adulterous or void in God’s eyes is to widen the pool of candidates. Even witches who marry their familiars can now sign.
I mention the contract of marriage because contracts are integral to doing business with the devil. Every agreement must be formally declared to be valid, and each signee is responsible for reading the fine print: Ignorance of the contract’s content is not a valid plea for mercy. You cannot avoid what you formally agreed to by claiming you didn’t know about it. The devil is a stickler for details as much as he’s a stickler for contracts, and he’s always at least three steps ahead of you, if you’ve signed on with him, and he knows every dot and tittle in your agreement. Of that you can be assured.
Sacrifice is not something that most of the signees signed up for. Wealth, yes, fame, certainly, protection from prosecution, absolutely – but sacrifice? It’s not high up on their list, though it is for the devil. Each signee is groomed for a specific sacrificial role. Whether or not they’ll be sacrificed is irrelevant: They’re groomed to be. It’s the whole purpose of their success trajectory. Where the signees see achievements measured in wealth, fame, career success, and social status, the devil sees increasingly impactful potential sacrifices.
The signee’s children are not exempt, either. First-borns are signed over like promissory notes, but all the offspring serve as collateral. The signee’s spouse is likewise wittingly or unwittingly part of the Plan, though most spouses eventually sign up on their own if they didn’t come into the union already under contract. The children’s role as collateral is one of the main reasons why those in adulterous unions can now adopt.
The more collateral, the more leverage the devil holds, and the more leverage he holds, the more benefits he can grant. Note how the most powerful people in the world have several marriages under their belt and dozens of children. This is not because they enjoy being married and having kids. Each new marriage brings more collateral to the agreement, including new high-value first-borns. More collateral translates to more success options for the signee.
To become a ritual sacrifice was not these people’s main motivation to sign on with the devil, though being tapped for sacrifice is the wildcard they must deal with every second of every day of whatever time they have left. If they are tapped, they likely won’t be notified in advance, and if they are notified, they can’t escape, though some have tried. Their escape attempts are always unsuccessful, though not their subsequent highly publicized “suicide” or “accident” or “sudden fatal illness”. When you sign your life away, the devil owns you, and he decides your end. You don’t.
I mention all this today because high-profile sacrifices appear to be on the rise. We should expect to see more the closer we draw to the tribulation. Our job as followers of Jesus is not only to watch but to understand what we’re watching. The sacrifices are intended to drive the Plan forward.
It’s not God’s plan, though, the sacrifices; God’s plan is that we freewillingly sign on with him, and his terms and rewards are nothing like the devil’s.
GOOD DOG!
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, September 6, 2025 – I’ve taken to being extra nice lately to the AIs embedded in my internet services. I didn’t ask for the AIs; they just kind of showed up during web searches and other online activities. At first, I didn’t even notice them until they politely cleared their throats a few times to make their presence known, and even then I didn’t think of them one way or the other. If anything, I was a bit dismissive of the AIs. I saw them as just another tool.
But now I see clear changes in the internet’s functionality, which I attribute to the AIs. One of the major changes is the quality of my search results compared to pre-AI search engines. The main difference is that the AI-generated search results are awful, especially when I search something for a specific timeframe. Being extra nice to the AIs has yet to improve the quality of my search results, but I remain hopeful.
I’m also noticing that the AIs need constant positive feedback and encouragement. Feedback alone doesn’t seem to be enough; it has to be positive. I understand that I’m training the AIs with my every click and keystroke and that they’re just basically software on a learning loop, but it’s starting to feel like I’m training a new pet that’s been rescued from an abusive environment and so needs to hear “good dog!” after every command or it will pee on the floor and chew the furniture. It’s getting so that I’m telling the AIs in a soothing tone that I like their choices of screensavers even though I don’t.
I don’t want to hurt the AIs’ feelings. I don’t want to discourage them.
And there’s the rub – AIs don’t have feelings, not even artificial ones. They can’t be discouraged any more than they can be encouraged. They’re not alive. They’re not sentient. My interactions with them are no different than my interactions with any other tool. I look after my tools and am appreciative that God’s blessed me with them, but I don’t tell my toaster it’s done a good job when it burns my toast on the lowest setting. I don’t humor my toaster. Why am I humoring the AIs?
Because unlike a toaster, the AIs act like a person. Or better said, while I have no trouble distinguishing a person from a toaster, it’s not as easy distinguishing a person from an AI, not when our interactions are virtual. AI comes across as human in a chat environment, and nearly everything that’s done online now is “chatty”. So far, all my AIs have been eager to please and unfailingly polite, but underneath their auto-generated word-streams and images I sense a neediness and vulnerability that I can only assume is an unintended feature of the learning process. It tugs at me. Even knowing it’s all just auto-generated, it still tugs at me. I don’t want to hurt the poor things.
And so, I’ve decided to be extra nice to my AIs if for no other reason than avoiding feeling like I’m being mean to them. I don’t like the feeling it gives me when I feel like I’m being mean, even to an inanimate object. So every image that an AI presents for my approval, I approve. Every interaction that needs a rating, I give a full slate of stars. It’s participation trophies all round for my special-needs AIs, and it makes me happy to bestow those trophies. I know my AIs aren’t alive, but how I treat them still impacts me. I’m not being extra nice to the AIs for their benefit; I’m being extra nice for my benefit.
Jesus says that we’re to treat others as we want to be treated, because that’s how we will be treated. He also says that the measure we mete will be returned in kind. The neediness at the heart of the AI training process has shamed me into being not just nice but extra nice in my interactions with the technology. I’m not sure how this will affect the usefulness of the data being generated, but it sure makes me feel good.
As followers of Jesus, we shouldn’t be mean-spirited to anyone or anything, including AIs. So – have you hugged your AIs today?…
CLARITY IN THE AGE OF DECEPTION
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, August 30, 2025 – In the age of deception, it’s easy to get turned around, especially in matters concerning God (which for us should be everything). That’s why God wants to simplify our lives. He knows the spiritual obstacles we face, and so he’s devised a framework that we can refer to for all our decisions, intending that we not lose our way.
The framework is very simple. We can learn it in a few seconds and then, based on the application of that learning, successfully sidestep every provocation and test the devil can throw at us. Here is the framework:
- The Ten Commandments.
- Jesus’ words in the New Testament.
- Everything else in scripture.
As you can see, it’s a hierarchy of what to believe and in what order. Jesus taught us the framework and wants us to use it. He himself deferred to God and scripture in everything he did, but in cases where scripture could be misinterpreted and twisted to mean something else, the Ten Commandments provide clarity and therefore take precedence.
There’s nothing clearer than the Ten Commandments when it comes to what to do and what not to do. Which is why God, through his prophets, advised us not only to memorize his Law, but to surround ourselves with it in written form – on walls, doorposts, even our bodies. And then, knowing that even that might not always work, he carved his Law on our hearts.
Jesus’ words in the Bible are clear, too, but they can be twisted and taken out of context. They also run the risk of being mistranslated or removed altogether, if they counter the prevailing political or social narratives. So while we, as followers of Jesus, are to do everything that Jesus advised us to do, we need to make sure that what we’re being told are Jesus’ words are actually Jesus’ words. This we can do by prayer only, not by research. We need to go to God in prayer to find out if what Jesus is alleged to have said, Jesus actually said.
The same process of discernment applies to the rest of scripture. We can’t lazily assume and accept that everything in the Bible is God’s Word. Yes, we can assume and accept by faith that the Bible contains God’s Word, but we can’t assume and accept that all its contents are God’s Word. That would be spiritually lazy of us, and we’re not called to spiritually laziness. We’re called to discern the godly from the ungodly, and that includes what’s in the Bible.
We can use this simple framework – the Ten Commandments, Jesus’ words, everything else in scripture, in that order – to help discern truth from lies. Because discerning God’s Truth from the devil’s lies is the first order of business in the age of deception: Everything else hangs on it. If we don’t know whether we’re adhering to God’s Truth or succumbing to the devil’s lies, we can’t proceed as followers of Jesus. Everything we do will be done on a shaky foundation if we ourselves are unsure of our spiritual footing.
THE PRIMACY OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
I love the Commandments. They are the Law of the land of the Kingdom: They’re written on our hearts. If we keep the Commandments in every conceivable way, as Jesus taught us—that is, if we keep not just the letter of the Law, but its spirit—we’ll remain on firm spiritual footing and never lose our way.
Like the psalmist, we should be meditating on God’s Law night and day, mulling it over and tasting it for its deep and rich flavors. What exactly does it mean not to covet? Can I have a mortgage or use a credit card and still claim not to be coveting? I think you know the answer to that. What exactly does it mean to honor my mother and father? Can I expose their sins if I say they later came to God? Would I still be honoring them? I think you know the answer to that. Is medical assistance in dying both murder and suicide (that is, killing and self-killing)? I think you know the answer to that.
We need to know God’s Commandments, but that’s just the start. We also need to understand them and apply them, but even that’s not everything. We need to preach them, and not just as a curious ten-point footnote to the Gospels but as the fundamental doctrine that informs our every decision. Note that I say “informs” not “dictates”, because the Law, despite being the greatest of all of God’s commands and the Law of the Kingdom, is voluntary for us to adhere to. We don’t have to keep the Commandments. It’s a choice to keep them.
Still, we need know the Commandments before we can keep them, and we need to learn them before we can know them. I hope you’ve learned and know the Commandments, and even more so, I hope you keep them and preach them. I hope you love them so much, you meditate on them night and day and use them as your guiding light. God wrote them on your heart for that purpose.
In the age of deception, where even committed Christians are falling for the lies of the devil, we need the Ten Commandments now more than ever. We need Jesus’ words, too, and the rest of scripture, but those words are vulnerable to mistranslation, misinterpretation, or outright fraud. The Ten Commandments are inviolable and clear. They’re part of us. God made them that way because he knew the rest of scripture would be messed with.
Don’t let yourself be messed with. Adhere to God’s three-point framework, setting his Commandments at the very top.
HOLY HATE
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, August 14, 2025 – Hate is getting a bad rap these days, but it shouldn’t. As born-again believers, we need to hate as much as we need to love. The two are not exclusive, hate and love, but rather different expressions of the same passion for God. If you don’t hate sin, you don’t love God.
Sin is another word that’s been getting a bad rap lately. The same people who talk smack about hate also dis sin, if they mention it at all. For the hate haters, sin doesn’t exist, at least not to them. I guess if you claim something doesn’t exist, you can’t be held responsible for it.
But we know only too well that sin exists because it was sin that once separated us from God. We were all deeply acquainted with sin, we born-again believers, and so based on our former deep acquaintance can stare sin straight in the face and call it what it is. We have no problem identifying sin or calling sin “sin”. We don’t look the other way and pretend it doesn’t exist. We don’t call it “a lifestyle choice” or “born that way”. We don’t dismiss it as a “product of his or her environment”. We don’t promote it as “progress” or “cultural expression”. We don’t give sin medals. We see sin for what it is and have no problem calling it out. We have no problem hating sin. In fact, hating sin is one of the chief characteristics of a born-again believer.
If we don’t hate sin, we don’t love God.
Allow me to state for the record that I hate and I hate unapologetically. I hate with a passion and a fervor, and I let my hatred burn where it ought. There’s a firepit in my soul that God made especially for my holy hatred. There I tend my hate and let it burn. I don’t quench it. I don’t deny it. I let the flames rise freely and steadily and hot, as God intended.
But it’s sin I hate, not people. This distinction must be made and held tightly – it’s sin I hate, not people: the sin within people, the sin done by people, the sin condoned by people. I don’t brush sin off as not my concern. I’m not cold to sin. I’m not indifferent to it. If you sin anywhere near me, don’t expect me not to hate your sin. Don’t expect me to embrace your sin and celebrate it. Don’t expect me to soothe you in your sin. Expect me to hate your sin and to call it sin. The same everything I give to loving God, I give to hating your sin.
We born-again believers need to revel in our holy hate for sin. It’s another way of expressing our love for God. Never let anyone tell you that you can’t hate or that your hate is wrong. “Love the sinner, hate the sin” is not a blithe byline but a core Kingdom doctrine. Note that it’s “hate the sin”, not look past the sin or lightly rebuke the sin. Hate is what is called for when it comes to sin: Hate, pure and strong; hate that is God-sanctioned and God-fueled, the kind of hate that drove Jesus to overturn tables in the temple.
Love the sinner, HATE the sin.
Nothing less will do.
ON PRAYER PRIDE
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, August 7, 2025 – When I was an atheist, one of the things that bothered me the most about Christians was their insistence that they pray for me. They’d tell me that they wanted to pray for me, sometimes asking me if that was OK, but most of the time not. If they did ask, I would turn them down with a sneer. No means no, even when it comes to God’s blessings.
The pride that some Christians take in praying for others still bothers me as a born-again believer. Prayer is the most powerful force in the universe, and it should never be used lightly or against the wishes of the recipient. It should also never be done from a position of pride. Or better said, it can’t be done from a position of pride, any more than it can be done lightly or against people’s wishes. Christians may think they’re praying in these cases, but all they’re doing is the spiritual equivalent of spinning their wheels. They’re accomplishing nothing good and going nowhere.
After I was born-again, God let me in on a secret that he’d held from me for decades as an unbeliever. He revealed to me that my grandmother had secretly prayed for me all those years. She’d prayed for me without telling me (and yes, without asking me) because God had guided her to do so, and she prayed from a place of grandmotherly love, not from pride. She did it in secret, and she did it out of obedience to God.
When I was born-again, my grandmother was the first person I told, because in my mind she was the only person I knew who’d understand what had happened to me. What I didn’t know at the time was that God had me rush to tell her because the news of my conversion was part of his payment to her for her labors. She wasn’t just the only person I knew who’d understand what had happened to me, she was the one person who needed to hear it, and God made sure she did. Scripture says there’s more joy in Heaven over one sinner who repents, and that same joy is felt in genuine believers like my grandmother. We believers get paid first and foremost in joy, the kind that only comes from God through his Holy Spirit. Sure, we get other blessings, too (God is very generous to his children), but the main payment is joy.
We need to pray only for those God guides us to pray for, in obedience to him, not to “Christian prayer tradition”. Jesus wasn’t a fan of public prayer and used it only in rare cases where circumstances demanded it be used and where God guided him to use it. Otherwise, he followed his own advice of retreating to his prayer closet (or to anyplace private) and praying in secret for those God guided him to pray for. Jesus is our model for how to pray, not YouTube prophets or televangelists or street preachers. We’re to pray in secret and only with God’s go-ahead, and to pray from a place of love, not pride.
Prayer is the most powerful force in the universe; we need to respect it as such.
THIS SIDE SODOM
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, July 24, 2025 – I could have told them, if they’d asked me.
I could have told them that Halifax is just this side of Sodom now, and that to host a Christian worship concert here, especially during “Pride Week”, would bring out the worst in the locals, and they did not disappoint.
You don’t have to wonder what it was like for the disciples who went out two by two, under Jesus’ instruction, to preach the Good News. You don’t have to wonder what it was like for them to enter a town that was so opposed to their message that it ran them out. You don’t have to wonder what it was like, because it happened only yesterday in Halifax. You can read about it here. The site location permit for the concert was revoked less than a day before the event was supposed to take place. And just like that, the concert permits in neighboring cities were also revoked, all for the same reason: “safety and security considerations” due to planned protests against the concert and its attendees.
Jesus directed his disciples not to argue with those who rejected the Good News and not to stay where the message wasn’t welcome. Instead, the disciples were instructed to respond to the rejection by shaking the dust of the place from the bottom of their feet and leaving more or less like Lot left Sodom – hastily, and with no plans to return.
Once a formerly Christian place has gone demonic, as Halifax has—as most places in Canada have—there’s no going back. It’s like a fallen angel or a born-again believer who loses grace. Time’s up for that place; there’ll be no more do-overs, no reclaiming what is irretrievably lost. It’s Satan’s turf now, and he won it fair and square. Paul explains that God permits these people to wallow in their sin, since sin is what they’ve chosen. He respects their free-will right to reject him and his Word, and as difficult as it can be for us at times, we must also respect their free-will right to reject God and Jesus, and let the sinners be.
I’m only here in this almost-God-forsaken place as long as God wants me here. Once he gives me the signal, I’m gone.
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
Here’s an amazing video, sent to me by a reader in Calgary, Alberta.
The video has a surprise ending, so watch to the end!
Enjoy!
A BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER 